Chapter 59: Repaying Debts

Chapter 59: Chapter 59: Repaying Debts

As long as Deng Yuyuan liked this wretched girl, it would be easy for them to demand money.

The uncle cleared his throat, finally laying his cards on the table. "To be reasonable, it is time for Gou Ya to go home. It is improper for her to stay out all the time. If you want her, you can pay to buy her. We will go talk to the Village Chief and let Gou Ya live with you."

"Otherwise," the uncle scoffed, "I’ll take Gou Ya away, and no one can say a word about it."

"That might not be true," Deng Yuyuan said softly. "You are Gou Ya’s family, so taking her back is perfectly justified. However, paying back one’s debts is equally justified."

"Sister Er Dong, lock the door! If they don’t pay up, we can’t let them take Gou Ya away!" Deng Yuyuan stood up, carried Tuantuan into the inner room, set her down, and picked up a notebook with some papers clipped inside.

She opened it and showed it to Gou Ya’s uncle and aunt. The notebook detailed all the expenses spent on Gou Ya recently, and the paper was a contract bearing Gou Ya’s red thumbprint.

Deng Yuyuan spoke in a clear, loud voice, "If you can’t read, we can invite the Village Chief over to take a look. Gou Ya pressed her thumbprint on this herself, agreeing to work off her debt. If you don’t want her working here, that’s fine—just pay the money back first."

"You shameless hussy, what are you talking about? Didn’t you take Gou Ya in out of the goodness of your heart?" The aunt lunged forward, trying to tear the papers to pieces, but Deng Yuyuan easily dodged her.

Deng Yuyuan’s expression turned cold. "In times like these, who has extra rice and grain to just be kind-hearted? Why don’t you ask Gou Ya? Seeing as we live in the same village and see each other all the time, I kept quiet about this to save your family’s reputation.

"On Gou Ya’s very first day at the Knowledge Youth Institute, she stole our meat. When she was caught and tried to run away, she broke a jade bracelet. It’s recorded right here on the first page of the notebook. That jade bracelet cost a full twenty yuan."

The uncle and aunt glared fiercely at Gou Ya. The girl shrank her neck in fear but still nodded. "I’m sorry, Aunt. I... I was just so hungry, I couldn’t help it."

Now they had no legitimate excuse. The uncle frowned. Looking at the locked door and the three women, a sudden realization hit him. He was the only man here—what was he afraid of?

Deng Yuyuan noticed his gaze gradually turning lecherous. "If I scream, aren’t you afraid of being charged with hooliganism?"

When Zhao Erdong had gone to lock the door earlier, a circle of neighbors had already gathered outside.

"Why is there no sound inside?" someone muttered.

"I don’t know. Are they done arguing, or just tired of it?" another replied.

The voices outside suddenly grew louder. "Yuanyuan, even if you talk until your mouth goes dry, don’t offer them any water! Neither of them is any good. Who knows, they might even try to extort you after drinking your water!"

In the end, the uncle and aunt left with their tails between their legs. However, the vicious glare they shot back before leaving made it clear they wouldn’t let the matter drop so easily.

Deng Yuyuan narrowed her eyes slightly. That was perfect—she had no intention of letting these scumbags off either.

The neighbors came in and immediately looked the two female youths up and down. Only after confirming that not even a single strand of their hair was out of place did they heave a sigh of relief and begin to chide Deng Yuyuan.

"If you didn’t want them to leave, you just had to yell! I would’ve had my man help you block the way. Why did you lock the door? Do you know how dangerous that is? We were all on the other side of the door, and our hearts were pounding."

The men, who had been anxiously called over by their wives, stood outside the door. Meeting the eyes of the two educated youths, they chuckled good-naturedly and rubbed the backs of their heads.

"I’ll ask around to see if anyone’s dog has had a litter of puppies," one of the men suggested. "You two can bring one back to raise, and it can guard the yard. Plus, when Tuantuan gets older and goes out to play, she’ll have a companion to protect her."

Guard dogs in the countryside were highly intelligent. If raised alongside children, they would fiercely protect them. There had already been several incidents in the village where a lost child was found by a dog, or a human trafficker trying to steal a child was bitten and fought off by a dog.

Deng Yuyuan and Zhao Erdong thanked the neighbors and grabbed a handful of candies to distribute among them.

The neighbors tried to politely decline, but Deng Yuyuan was assertive; she simply thrust her hands forward and stuffed the candies directly into the women’s pockets.

On New Year’s Eve, after finishing their New Year’s dinner, everyone coincidentally gathered at the Knowledge Youth Institute, choosing to stay up in the large courtyard to see the New Year in.

The men stayed home to watch the children, while the women gathered at the Knowledge Youth Institute to chat about daily life. Zhao Erdong went back to the room to sleep beside Tuantuan, but since Deng Yuyuan had slept too much during the day, she was supposedly wide awake. Or so she thought.

Back in her previous life, Deng Yuyuan had already mastered the two great skills of sleeping while standing and sleeping while sitting during her school days. By the time she was startled awake by the deafening sound of firecrackers exploding near her ears, she was greeted by the teasing laughter of the neighboring women.

"It’s completely normal for young people to sleep a lot," the women laughed.

Deng Yuyuan raised her hand to wipe her face, only to find her arms completely full. It was an entire handful of red envelopes.

"We prepared ones for Er Dong and Tuantuan too. Just slip Er Dong’s under her pillow," one of the women said, helping her pick up a red envelope that had fallen to the ground. "Even the youngest among us is ten years older than you two girls, so we can be considered your elders."

The firecrackers sounded all through the night.

CLICK CLACK.

Having stayed up all night, everyone was looking a bit sluggish and low on energy—except for Deng Yuyuan.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, everyone put on their new clothes and went out to play in the village.

Zhao Erdong woke Tuantuan up bright and early in the morning, murmuring under her breath, "Waking up early on the first day of the New Year means you’ll be able to wake up early every day this year. We need a good omen."

"Deng Yuyuan, what are you doing crawling into bed?!"

"Wishing that I can sleep in every day this year," Deng Yuyuan mumbled. Tuantuan had just woken up and instinctively clung to her mother, only to be pulled into a tight embrace by the shameless mother and forced back to sleep.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, the educated youths went to the Village Chief’s house to offer New Year’s greetings.

Deng Yuyuan wore her red overcoat and carried Tuantuan, who was also dressed entirely in red.

The little baby, as cute as a porcelain doll, wasn’t the least bit shy. Whoever greeted her was met with a joyful babble.

Fubao had also come to the Village Chief’s house today. A circle of people surrounded her, marveling as they listened to Fubao call them "Auntie."

Zhang Ci Hao pushed his way through the crowd, took Tuantuan from her arms, and suddenly said, "You look really beautiful today. You look beautiful every day."

As soon as the words left his mouth, his face turned red, and he averted his eyes, avoiding Deng Yuyuan’s gaze.

With two babies in the same place, comparisons were inevitable. The Village Chief’s wife brought Shi Tou out, letting Shi Tou bear the brunt of all the disparaging remarks.

The eldest daughter-in-law didn’t mind at all and secretly whispered into her mother-in-law’s ear, "Shi Tou can’t understand them anyway, so just let him take it, hahahahaha."

However, a nosy person couldn’t help but ask, "Fubao already knows how to call people. Why is Tuantuan still just babbling? Deng Zhiqing, have you taken Tuantuan to the hospital to get checked out?"

"You didn’t know how to call people until you were a year old, and you’re criticizing others for being late?!" An elderly man, who was teasing the children with a rattle drum, was the first to take offense.

"Oh my, I was just thinking that she would have inherited the educated youth’s culture and intelligence," replied the person who had asked the question. She was a close childhood friend of the Zhang Family’s younger sister-in-law and had married into a branch family of the Village Chief’s relatives.

"Your father knows how to swim, but I didn’t see you swimming the moment you were born," someone retorted.

A man standing nearby chimed in, "I heard the Zhang Family is going to build a two-story house. If their kid learns to say ’Dad’ early, we might even get to score a free banquet out of it."